The Banana Splits
| last_aired = | status = Ended | related = The Skatebirds | website = http://www.bananasplits.com }} The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was an hour-long, packaged television variety program featuring The Banana Splits, a fictional rock band composed of four funny animal characters. The costumed hosts of the show were Fleegle (guitar, vocals), Bingo (drums, vocals), Drooper (bass, vocals) and Snorky (keyboards, effects). The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera, and ran for 31 episodes on NBC Saturday mornings, from September 7, 1968, to September 5, 1970. The costumes and sets were designed by Sid and Marty Krofft and the series' sponsor was Kellogg's Cereals. The show featured both live action and animated segments and was Hanna-Barbera’s first foray into mixing live action with animation. History and description In 1967, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera approached Sid Krofft and Marty Krofft to design costumes for a television show which would feature animated and live-action segments, with the whole show hosted by a bubblegum rock group of Anthropomorphic characters. The format of the show was loosely based on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. The Banana Splits Adventure Hour premiered on NBC on September 7, 1968. The Krofft brothers give credit to the success of the series for opening the door for their own entry into television. NBC picked up the Krofft series H.R. Pufnstuf, which was launched during an hour-long special hosted by The Banana Splits on August 30, 1969. The show's live-action segment Danger Island, a cliffhanger serial, as well as the short-lived Micro Ventures, an animated series consisting of only four episodes, ran alongside the animated segments Arabian Knights and The Three Musketeers. Actor Jan Michael Vincent (billed as Michael Vincent) appeared in the live-action component Danger Island, all the live-action material filmed for the series' first season, including the Banana Splits and Danger Island segments, was directed by Richard Donner.CD liner notes: Saturday Mornings: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits, 1995 MCA Records Each show represented a meeting of the "Banana Splits Club", and the wraparounds featured the adventures of the club members, who doubled as a musical quartet, meant to be reminiscent of The Monkees. The main characters were Fleegle, a beagle; Bingo, a Gorilla; Drooper, a lion; and Snorky, called "Snork" in the theme song lyrics, an elephant. Fleegle would assume the role as leader of the Banana Splits and preside at club meetings. The characters were played by actors in voluminous fleecy costumes similar to later Sid and Marty Krofft characters such as H.R. Pufnstuf. They all spoke in English – Drooper with a Southern drawl in the manner of Michael Nesmith, Fleegle with a pronounced lisp – except for Snorky who "spoke" in honking noises. The Splits' segments, including songs-of-the-week and comedy skits, served as wraparounds for a number of individual segments. In the second season, The Three Musketeers segments were replaced with repeats of The Hillbilly Bears, a cartoon segment that previously appeared on The Atom Ant Show (1965–1968). For the first season, some of the live-action segments – specifically those used during the musical segments – were shot at Six Flags Over Texas, an amusement park located in Arlington. For the second season, filming took place at the Kings Island amusement park, located in eastern Cincinnati, Ohio. In many episodes, the Banana Splits would be seen riding on the Runaway Mine Train roller coasters, Log Flumes, Bumper Cars, Merry-Go-Rounds, and many other rides at Six Flags and Kings Island. Also featured were the "Banana Buggies" mentioned in the theme song. These were seen driven by each live-action character in the opening and closing segments and occasionally in the wraparound and music video segments as well. The buggies were customized Amphicat six-wheel drive all-terrain vehicles each decorated to resemble the character who drove them. Plastic 1/25 scale model kits were issued by Aurora Plastics Corporation under catalog number 832 beginning in 1969. These were never reissued by Aurora, but have since been released as high-end, resin-based kits.Reissued Banana Buggy resin kits at Professorplastik.com The Banana Splits was one of the first two Hanna-Barbera series in 1968 in which Hanna and Barbera received Executive producer credits, the other being Huck Finn; Edward Rosen served as producer on both series. They would not, however, assume the title full-time for another five years. This Hanna-Barbera series was also one of the first Saturday morning cartoon shows to utilize a Laugh track.Iverson, Paul: "The Advent of the Laugh Track" Hofstra University archives; February 1994 2008 revival In August 2008, Warner Bros had announced a multi-platform release featuring new comedy shorts and music videos that debuted on Cartoon Network starting September 2, 2008. The relaunch included a live show and a website, as well as a CD and a DVD featuring 13 new songs released by Universal Records. In addition, a kids-themed area called Banana Splitsville was placed at Myrtle Beach's Hard Rock Park rock-and-roll theme park, which later became Freestyle Music Park before closing permanently in 2009. Cast Music The show’s theme song, titled "The Tra La La Song", was written by Ritchie Adams and Mark Barkan; Barkan was one of the music directors for the show. The song was released as a single and peaked at number 96 on Billboard's Top 100 in February 1969. The version included on the We're The Banana Splits album is the same recording heard at the beginning of the show, while the single version is an entirely different arrangement and recording of the song, featuring an additional verse. The Banana Splits' bubblegum pop rock and roll was provided by studio professionals, including Joey Levine ("I Enjoy Being a Boy", "It's a Good Day for a Parade"); Al Kooper ("You're the Lovin' End"); Barry White ("Doin' the Banana Split"); Gene Pitney ("Two Ton Tessie") and Jimmy Radcliffe provided his songs ("I'm Gonna Find a Cave", "Soul", "Don't Go Away Go-Go Girl", "Adam Had 'Em" and "The Show Must Go On") but did not contribute vocals to Splits recordings. The music director was music publisher Aaron Schroeder, while production duties were mainly handled by David Mook. When a heavier R&B vocal was needed, the music producers usually turned to singer Ricky Lancelotti, who was billed in the show credits under his stage name Rick Lancelot. Lancelotti went on to record several songs with Frank Zappa. In 1968, The Banana Splits released an album on Decca Records titled We're the Banana Splits. Covers US speed punk act The Dickies covered the theme song in 1978, entitled "Banana Splits". Their recording reached Number 7 in the UK charts and now appears as a bonus on the CD reissue of their 1979 album The Incredible Shrinking Dickies. They still perform this cover live at almost every concert and it was also featured in the movie soundtrack of Kick-Ass, during ten-year-old Hit-Girl's brutally violent fight scene. A cover of the show’s theme song performed by Liz Phair with Material Issue (surprisingly appropriate as Liz Phair and three cast members of the Banana Splits attended New Trier High School) is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records. Another rendition was performed by rock & roll comic C.C. Banana on the 2005 cartoon tribute album "Complete Balanced Breakfast." A cover of "Don't Go Away Go-Go Girl" by pop-punk band Mr. T Experience was issued on the 1993 tribute album Banana Pad Riot and their Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood and Our Bodies Our Selves CD releases. The 1988 landmark release "Sub Pop 200" included a version of "I'm Gonna Find a Cave" retitled "Gonna Find a Cave" by the band Girl Trouble. "Sub Pop 200" featured recordings from many soon to be notable bands, Nirvana, Green River, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and others from Seattle's Grunge music explosion that followed. Chicago-based musician Ralph Covert, who records children's music under the group name Ralph's World, covered the theme song under the title "The Banana Splits (The Tra La La Song)" on his 2001 album At the Bottom of the Sea. Oddest of all references is possibly that made by Bob Marley, with the striking (though not exact) similarity between the song's chorus and the bridge of the Bob Marley & The Wailers song "Buffalo Soldier". Comics The Banana Splits' adventures continued in comic books. Gold Key began publishing a comic version in 1969, releasing eight issues through 1971. Drawn by Jack Manning, these followed the musicians trying to find work or on the road between gigs. Home media releases On September 21, 2009, Warner Home Video released the complete first season on DVD in Region 2.The Banana Splits - Complete Season 1 [DVD: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV]. Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved on 2012-04-10. The 6-disc set consists of 36 edited half-hour episodes of The Banana Splits And Friends Show as aired on Boomerang. It is unknown when Warner Archive will release the entire complete series (uncut, unedited and remastered) on DVD. See also * * References External links * Official website * * * Interview with Shirley Hillstrom (now Sheri Freedman), who played Charley the Messenger of the Sour Grapes Bunch Category:1968 American television series debuts Category:1970 American television series endings Category:1960s American animated television series Category:American children's television series Category:Fictional musical groups Category:English-language television programming Category:Hanna-Barbera series and characters Category:Television series by Warner Bros. Television Category:NBC network shows Category:Television programs featuring anthropomorphic characters Category:Television programs featuring puppetry